Shades of Indigo
by JeiC
Summary: Going on this trip was probably a mistake, but I couldn't turn Sora down.


Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts is still owned by Square Enix and Disney. I'm just someone with an overactive imagination that writes silly stories.  
Warnings: angst

**Shades of Indigo: Look Over Your Shoulder**

by JeiC

* * *

Standing where we had departed the Gummi ship that the King had leant us, I stared out over the horizon, not able to see much against the dark, indigo sky. Dawn would be approaching soon and then the restoration efforts going on in Radiant Garden would be much more apparent.

Sora had been invited to join in the festivities surrounding the conclusion of the project since he was an honorary member. Of course, he insisted on dragging Kairi and me along with him when he saw that it had said that he could bring friends. Needless to say, I was the one that had been piloting the ship all night to get here, and I could sure use some rest right about now.

When I had mentioned that we had arrived, my spiky-haired friend immediately wanted to depart…even at the usual hour it was. I had been hoping to catch an hour or two of sleep before we left the ship, but if there's one thing that's next to impossible to do, it is sleep when Sora is bouncing around. Even our female friend wouldn't have been able to calm him down.

I had made good time through the passageways here. They were rather void of any other traffic, which I heard is unusual from my friend. Personally, I would have rather slept the night and traveled through a dark portal to get here, but I wasn't about to admit that I had recently regained that ability.

Feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand up on end, I looked over my shoulder quickly, wondering if it was just the cool early morning breeze or if someone was watching us.

"Riku, what are you doing? Lets head down towards Merlin's house. He might be up by now," Sora called from where he and Kairi had already started walking away. The first rays of light had just started to filter through the night sky and I could have sworn I saw a figure moving.

Shrugging, I hesitantly turn back around, "I'm coming."

The moment I turned was the moment whoever it was attacked. Ducking a large, flying, spinning disc of some sort, I turned back to look at the weapon imbedded into the wall behind me, grateful that I managed to dodge the four-way spiked weapon. However, I found myself jumping backwards quickly to avoid what appeared to be sharp knives as they stuck into the ground where I had been standing only moments before.

Crap…I can't see where this person is and I hear my best friend come running up as I call upon Way to the Dawn. "Sora, go protect Kairi!"

"But Riku!"

"Just do it!" I snap, my senses immediately searching for my attacker. I hope it's only one.

Something causes me to look back over my shoulder again, bringing up my Keyblade up to block the overhead strike. Stepping back with my left, I let the force of his blade slide off of mine, punching him in the upper back with the hilt to try and knock guy farther away.

Shifting into my ready stance with an ease that shouldn't be there after months of not fighting, I charge at the man, blocking a swing at my side when I get in his range. The streams of light glint off his weapon and I wonder if it's supposed to be a sword or a gun.

Before my mind can make itself up, I back off of my attack, dodging more of those throwing knife type of things, cutting down the ones that I can't physically dodge fast enough.

"Yuffie! Leon! Stop attacking Riku!" Blinking, I wonder when the spiky-haired brunet had gotten in front of me. I couldn't see his face, but I could only imagine the intense blue eyes that must be staring down his friends from this world.

A girl dropped down from a shadowed rooftop, "But Sora, he attacked us."

Standing firm in front of me, the Keyblade Master continued, "You guys attacked him first. Riku has done nothing to you. Why did you attack him?" The tone of his voice wavered between being upset and being angry. It was something that was not common to my friend.

"He helped Maleficent…that's enough," the man with the odd weapon spoke.

Casting my eyes away, I can't deny that accusation. "Look, Sora, it was probably a bad idea to invite me along. I'll just head home…" turning away, I mentally sigh at the long flight back, wishing I could leave the Gummi ship behind and just take a dark portal home, "I'll be back to pick you and Kairi up in a couple of weeks."

Before I can take a step, there's an anchor on my arm, keeping me in place. "No, you stayed up all night just to get us here, and I invited you to come, so I'm not letting you leave. They don't understand that it wasn't you, it was Xenahort's Heartless. They don't know how much you did to help me defeat Xemnas and the rest of Organization XIII."

Kairi has since come over and placed herself between me and the other two. "Riku is our friend – we won't let you hurt him."

"Well, I suppose if you guys trust him…" the girl rocked back and forth on her feet, "Then we can let him stay."

"I don't trust him," eyes pierced into mine, and I glared right back. Apparently I was going to have to prove myself with this one.

"Leon, you're being too harsh," a much more gentle female voice spoke softly, "You should introduce yourself to new guests and get to know them, rather than jump to conclusions." A woman in a pink and white dress came up behind the two. Brushing past them quickly, she extended a hand out to me, "My name is Aerith. Welcome to Radiant Garden, and please excuse the others…they misunderstood."

A diplomat amongst fighters. I'm impressed by her willingness to step forward without preconceived notions. Taking her hand after I release Way to the Dawn, I simply reply with my name. I have far too much history with this place when it was named Hollow Bastion. I really should've turned Sora down when he invited me, but King Mickey had requested that I fly the Gummi ship for some reason even though my friend was a little more familiar with the particular mode of transportation.

Backing up to speak to us as a group, Aerith spoke again, "If you'll follow me, we have rooms ready for you, though we weren't expecting you until later this morning. It's good that you're here early. Once you've rested, we could really use help getting things set up for the celebration."

Picking up the bag I had discarded at some point during the fight, I follow our guide along with my friends, looking back over my shoulder at the other two. I have a feeling I'm going to be doing that a lot while I'm here.

* * *

Fin  
August 2007  
by JeiC  
---  
Author's notes: Yeah, I'm crazy…gonna try to do a multichapter fic with this fanfic challenge. I will also be trying to integrate the color indigo into each fic somehow. 10 prompts 10 chapters. I may do another fic with a different color set later or a different claim.  
Also, I tried to keep the Aikido techniques in the fight between Leon and Riku to a minimum. Made sure that I didn't use words that people wouldn't be familiar with at least.

**For: **7rainbowprompts  
**Claim:** Riku  
**Set:** Indigo  
**Prompt:** Look Over Your Shoulder (#1)


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